AFSCME – alongside journalists, federal workers and other unions – sued the Trump administration Friday to save the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which includes Voice of America.
Voice of America (VOA) was created by Congress during World War II to provide truthful coverage of news events in countries flooded with misinformation. Since then, VOA journalists around the world have been providing news and information in nearly 50 languages to a weekly audience of more than 354 million people on digital, TV and radio platforms.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders said efforts to silence VOA are “nothing short of anti-American and a retaliatory attack on the independent journalists and workers who have dedicated their careers to fighting oppressive regimes and censorship.”
In a joint press release, Saunders added, “The voices and reporting of VOA professionals, including AFSCME members, are a beacon of freedom to people everywhere. We refuse to stand by as this administration violates the Constitution to obstruct their work and diminishes America's standing in the world as a leading democracy.”
AFSCME represents VOA workers who are members of AFSCME Local 1418 (District Council 20). Wayne Enoch, executive director of AFSCME DC 20, said the administration’s “assault on journalists and our jobs should alarm everyone.”
“AFSCME members are proud of the work they do at Voice of America to develop and distribute free and independent news to hundreds of millions of citizens everywhere,” Enoch said. “The very existence of Voice of America is a testament to our nation’s commitment to protecting a free and independent press.”
The lawsuit asserts that the agency has failed to fulfill its legally required functions and violated both the freedom of journalists and separation of powers when it ordered staff not to report to work, suspended contractors, turned off service and locked the agency’s doors.
“The VOA Journalists have devoted their careers to helping to build USAGM’s networks into a credible media force with global audiences in the hundreds of millions,” reads the lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York. “They are dedicated public servants of the utmost integrity …. What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created.”
In addition to AFSCME, the plaintiffs include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), The NewsGuild-CWA, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and seven individual workers represented by the Government Accountability Project. The plaintiffs seek immediate relief to reverse the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
AFSCME’s Get Organized campaign seeks to stop anti-worker extremists and their billionaire friends from destroying the public services we provide. We won’t stand on the sidelines as they try to roll back laws that protect our health and safety at work, our job security and even our freedom to join our union.